of an Orchid Hunter, 15] 



them. After about two months' work we had secured 

 about ten thousand plants, c itting down to obtain these 

 some four thousand trees, moving our camp as the 

 plants became exhausted in the vicinity. Our next con- 

 sideration was how to transport these plants to where 

 sawn wood could be obtained. First, they had to be 

 taken to the edge of the forest on men's backs ; and 

 even then we were five clays' journey from the town 

 of Pacho, where it is usual to make the boxes to pack 

 the orchids in for shipment to England. We got 

 over our difficulty by making about forty capacious 

 baskets of thin sticks, cut in the forest. In these we 

 packed all the plants, and carried them on the backs 

 of bullocks to Pacho, where they were quickly placed 

 in strong wooden cases, being still ten days' journey 

 from the coast. From here mules are employed to 

 travel with them to the banks of the Magdalena 

 river, and from there the steamboats quickly trans- 

 port them to the coastal town. 



From the little village called Maripi, the cele- 

 brated emerald mines of Muzo may be reached by 

 about two clays' riding on mules. Probably very few 

 people accustomed to see those lovely gems in their 

 cut and mounted state have any idea of the difficulties 

 to be undergone by those who would traverse this 

 part of the Ancles where the emerald mines are 

 situated. The scenery is of the most extraordinary 



